While Transit Police Thursday hunted for the man who indecently assaulted a 16-year-old girl, they also pleaded for witnesses and victims of a similar, separate attack the same day to come forward.
Transit Police arrested Donald Kalil, 52, a homeless Level 3 sex offender, after they were flagged down by people at the Broadway station. Witnesses told police he lifted up the shirts of women and tried to grope them. Police tried to talk to one of the victims waiting on a bus, but she did not want to give her name. The witnesses did not want to give their names either.
That’s frustrating to police, who said that although Kalil faces charges of disorderly conduct and failure to register as a sex offender, they hope to add assault to that list.
“We want people who are assaulted to report these crimes,” said Transit Deputy Chief Joseph O’Connor. “Historically, we believe that these are underreported crimes.”
Also Wednesday, an unidentified man approached a 16-year-old and her friend on a Red Line train at the Kendall station. He pulled down her shirt, exposing her, and then fled.
O’Connor said officials are bringing attention to these recent assaults because the suspects were so blatant.
Police advised that an effective tool can be when victims or witnesses take cell phone photos of the suspects when it’s safe to do so.
